Category Archives: Movie review

Movie review: Old (2021)

23 Friday Jul 2021

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Of all the contemporary directors, M. Night Shyamalan has to be one of the most criticised. He’s credits have been a melting pot of hits and misses throughout his career that it’s hard to determine which one you’ll get with every feature that he helms. His highs and lows have been well documented, but there is always something that keeps drawing audiences to his movies, keen to get a taste of that little bit of magic when he strikes gold.

The rise, fall, and stumbling rise of M. Night Shyamalan

So, where does that leave Shyamalan’s latest venture?

If anything, it typefies a conglomeration of his canon of work, with a striking premise that tackles the eternal fear, ‘What happens when we grow old?’ And when the ebb of time shifts into fifth gear with any hope of slowing it down completely wrenched away.

When a family takes a holiday to an island retreat, that on the surface appears idyllic, but lurking beneath is something strange and sinister. In fact, that’s the overarching message that Shymalayan appears to be the tune that he is playing, as all the characters have something hidden, awaiting to unfold throughout its narrative, be it physical or mental.

As expected with Shyamalan’s works, the sting in the tail comes with its own set of curiosities when said family spend a few hours on a secluded beach, only to discover something is causing them to age at rapid rate and with no sense of how they can escape.

Another common theme at play here is the notion that there are powers that are behind the scenes with an ulterior motive, orchestrating the strange events that the family is subjected to.  This in itself may go against the director’s favour, who clearly has a deep interest in this subject, but some may consider this old territory and therefore not willing to go there with the storyteller.
Shyamalan also casts himself in the mix as a voyeur and one of the afore-mentioned people who are pulling the strings. This could easily become trite and fall into The Lady In The Water territory, but he manages to curb himself from plunging too deep into these depths. 

What is on display are some nicely etched out characters ably performed by a brilliant cast of actors, from the patriarchal Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal), and the matriarchal Prisca (Vicky Crieps). There is also an array of actors who portray the children as they age through the years, skipping through pre-adolescence, adolescence, and into adulthood, of which Thomasin Mackenzie and Alex Wolff hold the lion’s share of the screen time.
Nods should also go to Rufus Sewell who plays the unhinged threat on the shores, and ably dances with a narcissistic personality. And also Nikki Amuka-Bird, who gets her time to shine as a spiritual woman, who also struggles with epilepsy.

It is possibly due to these performances that hide the sometimes dodgy dialogue being delivered, but there are also some choice visual techniques that are at hand which deliberately shift the audience’s gaze into uncomfortable terrain. This choice is a bold one, and I personally felt it added weight to the story, but some may find this off putting.

And when the final reveal comes together, the naysayers will continue to hold their ground refusing to sway from their opinion.

The Diagnosis:

There are those that will feel disappointed in the choices that Shyamalan makes here, and to a degree he falls easily into old territory which falls all too familiar.

The subject of choice though is one that brings the fear out of all of us, growing old and losing our wits, our beauty, and our senses.

Shyamalan may divide audiences, but I feel that he continues to be bold in the decisions he makes, never shying away from the heart of his material and without doubt, pushing them into an imaginative and creative world.
In doing so, he will continue to hit or miss.

With Old he somehow falls somewhere in between the two, as if stranding his ideas on the very beach that makes up the setting of this film. 

The question is can he continue to find new ways to weave his craft, testing his measure, and keep the intrigue of those that follow him.

  • Saul Muerte
More:

The Unbreakable series movie review by Myles Davies

Movie review: An Unquiet Grave (2021)

27 Sunday Jun 2021

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If I could cast a single element of praise towards Terence Key’s directorial feature debut An Unquiet Grave, it would be for the bold attempt to have two actors carry the entire 1hr and 12 min running time. The problem is that despite what is admittedly fairly short for a feature, it still stretches the premise too thinly to warrant your complete attention.

The premise itself feels like something drawn out of Pet Sematary, where a man Jamie (Jacob A. Ware) hatches a plan to bring his wife back from the dead with the help of her twin sister Ava (Christine Nyland, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Key). Using some dark magic macguffin which relies on a ritualistic act taking place at the site of the death, Jamie drives Ava to the location in order to carry out said deed. What he fails to mention is that a blood sacrifice is in order.

From here on in the movie drags its light plot to a bitter end using a few tricks of the trade in scares and thrills until the restless grave can find peace once more for its occupant. Both Nyland and Ware do incredibly well to lift the film using every ounce of acting prowess and for this the film can be thankful for their on screen presence but there’s not much else on show here.

The Diagnosis:

It was always a tough task to add depth to a shallow conceptual grave but there is enough substance here to keep you engaged… just. 

Both actors chew on as much of the dialogue to keep up the momentum and there are also some choice decisions from director Keys to make his mark for hopefully more budget to expand on his and Nyland’s writing and directing future.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: Saint Maud (2020)

20 Sunday Jun 2021

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It’s a crying shame that Saint Maud has only just now been released to a wider audience through home entertainment here in Australia. Having been released in the UK back in 2019, and then picked up by A24 films, a company known for its ‘highbrow horror’ releases, such as The Lighthouse, Midsommar, and The Hole In The Ground. It easily sits in good company with these movies with themes of faith, madness, and salvation at its helm. 

The narrative focuses on the burden that we carry through our lives when dealt with a traumatic episode. In this instance, we follow a nurse, Katie (Morfydd Clark – Crawl) who fails to save the life of a patient despite attempting CPR. So affected by this ordeal, Katie takes leave of her role in public health to invent a whole new identity in private care, and adopts the personna, Maud.

The story itself soon picks up with Maud assigned with the care of Amanda Kohl (Jennifer Ehle) a former dancer and choreographer who has succumbed to lymphoma. Believing that Amanda has been enveloped in sin, Maud then takes it upon herself to heal her through her faith and connection with God. So devoted is Maud to her beliefs that she begins to experience physical reactions that she believes is a testament to her unfounded devotion to the Lord. The beauty of the film is that it doesn’t question the faith itself but the extreme actions that manifest in an unstable mind when reduced to the base forms that life can subject us to. When we have nothing to fall upon other than our beliefs, then what can materialise out of faith can be an ill-fated journey through a twisted form of salvation. In Maud’s case, her salvation comes through not only cleansing her own soul, but by saving the soul of the atheist and sin-ridden Amanda, pushing these thoughts to its conclusion through pain, struggles, and ultimately redemption.

Charged with bringing this tale to fruition is writer, director Rose Glass, who’s debut feature is a mature and psychological venture into the heart of humankind, constantly questioning our role in the world and what drives us, or steers us towards our fate.

The Diagnosis:

Both Clark and Ehle produce powerhouse performances that twist and turn through a beautiful mix of power and vulnerability. They are beyond exceptional in their perceptions of both Katie/Maud and Amanda respectively and help solidify and ground the fantastical in reality, so that by the film’s resolution, the horror that unfolds with a deep and unsettling feeling that resonates long after the closing credits.

Glass proves that she is a talent to watch in the future who is able to tackle some dark, psychological subjects with the confidence of a veteran in her field.
Saint Maud is quite possibly one of my favourite movies in recent years.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: The Superdeep

19 Saturday Jun 2021

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Don’t be deterred by this Russian flick and it’s admittedly slow start to build up its central protagonist, Russian epidemiologist Anya Federova (Milena Radulovic) from smart but failed scientist out to prove herself into full on action guru.

Inspired by the real location of the Kola Superdeep Borehole, (one of Russia’s experiments to bore to the Earth’s core, which at its deepest reaches 12, 262 meters down), Anya gets the opportunity to redeem herself when a supposed viral outbreak has occurred in a Secret underground research facility.

Set in 1984 Russia, The Superdeep evokes the stark and oppressive nature that woke out of The Cold War era.

As soon as Anya arrives with a squad of soldiers to find out what has happened at the facility and is charged with retrieved with finding some samples of the unknown disease which appears to be infecting all who work at the facility.

They are greeted by Dr. Grigoriev, the head researcher at the facility but it soon becomes apparent that he has an ulterior motive and refuses to allow them access to to the lowest level of the facility, trapping them on one of the other levels.

It then becomes a race against time to prevent the spread of the infection from reaching the surface and potentially wiping out all of humanity in the process.

The Diagnosis:

There are some nice little elements at play here, especially with the virus that is threatening the characters. It’s essentially a fungal type of entity that infests it’s hosts and shows signs of high functioning intelligence.

The idea behind this is a worthy one and keeps the audience entertained along with some decent effects to ground the film and support the believability of the film

Where it does fall down however is in some of the dialogue and action points that slip into predictability all too often.

It is still entertaining however and Radulovic’s performance and portrayal of Anya is strong enough to keep you invested til the end.

-Saul Muerte

Movie review: Occupation: Rainfall

19 Saturday Jun 2021

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Spanning the last five years Director Luke Sparke has hit the ground running, producing, writing, and directing three feature length movies and showcasing that Australia can release high budget, slick looking films.

Whilst you can’t fault Sparke for pushing the visuals and action sequences to the limit, producing some fantastic, fast-paced, frenetic moments with an effective punch, he has come under fire for weak characters and convoluted plotlines that dampen the spectacle.

His latest venture, (an extension of his pet post-apocalyptic project Occupation series, and first sequel) Occupation: Rainfall, is unfortunately no different.

The story picks up following the band of Australian survivors after the alien invasion of Earth and throws the audience in the thick of a war, where the allies’ numbers are dwindling.

Dan Ewing returns once more as hard headed Matt Simmons, who effectively brings the braun to the piece whilst struggling to collaborate with alien accomplice Gary (Lawrence Makoare) and find a common ground to work on so that they can rise above their obvious differences to defend the alliance. In many ways Sparke is drawing from the buddy cop movies that many action films have drawn from as their central character journey. Some of the shared moments work really well in this instance and are engaging, but too often they are quashed by the need to drive more action into your face rather than pause for breath and build on character. This does however highlight an absence of originality when it comes to story development. 

Through the cloud of combat and explosions there are moments where the supporting cast prove their worth and lift the script above its potential, hiding the notable flaws. Chief among them is Temeura Morrision returning as Peter Bartlett, Daniel Gillies as Wing Commander Hayes who tries to do everything according to the book in order to ensure human survival, and Jet Tranter taking over the role of Amelia Chambers from Stephanie Chambers to provide the heart of the film.

The Diagnosis:

Yes, Director Luke Sparke more than proves his worth of high-budget, slick looking action movies in a system that falls outside of Hollywood here in Australia.

It’s just a shame that three movies into his credits, Sparke hasn’t managed to get a grasp on his writing. I can see why he is hanging onto his vision through the Occupation series, and he certainly is a visual director, but too often the action sequences smother the characters and plot, which feel secondary as a result.
If more time were spent on developing some engaging and believable characters along with solidifying the narrative, Sparke would be a force to reckon with in the film industry.
As it stands though there is some work to be done to finesse what is obviously a creative mind, to harness this vision and strengthen what promises to be a further instalment in this franchise.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: Skull: The Mask

06 Sunday Jun 2021

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Skull: The Mask is one of those movies that has a complexity of moments that form a conglomerate of the mad and macabre. 

Each piece of the puzzle seems out of sorts with one another but when placed together it somehow works.

The fact that it is set in Brazil just adds to the vibrant and energetic personality that is on show.

Written and directed by the dual partnership of Armando Foncesca and Kapel Furman, the film centres loosely on Brazilian mythology which dates back to the pre-Columbian era of Anhangá, a demon-type spirit according to the Christian version who wanders the earth after death.
In this instance Anhangá initially takes the form of a skull that has been heavily guarded over the centuries but is commandeered by Nazis (yes, them again) before once again being lost in time. 

That is until an archaeologist unearths the artefact and brings it back to Brazil to be stored in a museum.
Before it gets there though, a sacred ritual is performed and the spirit is unleashed, killing everyone in its path.
With every kill, it starts to take on human form, presumably with the blood of those it’s killed.

The only thing that can potentially stop this entity is Padre Vasco Magno (Ricardo Gelli), who has no faith in the old religions; Manco Ramirez (Wilton Andrade), a kick-ass vigilante who seems to have inhuman strength; and Beatriz Obdias (Natallia Rodrigues), a crooked, hard-boiled detective who is trying to redeem her old ways. 

The performances are top-notch with no one pulling any punches, allowing the grit and determination to pour forth.
The directing team have definitely leaned into their strengths with Foncesca seemingly bringing out the best from the cast, and Furman producing some gloriously gnarly and bloody moments with his brutal special effects on display. Making them a force to be reckoned with in the South American film-making scene.

The Diagnosis:

The storyline may be a fractured and complex one, but Skull: The Mask more than makes up for its faults by producing a frenzied and energetic slasher flick that taps into the heart of its country’s mythological roots.

It’s hard-edged approach and cracking SFX make this an enjoyable and crazed journey with some wickedly dark humour along the way, that if you’re willing to let it course through your visual senses, will prove to be well worth your time.

Hats off to the creative team Foncesca and Furman.
You’ve made a fan out of this writer.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: Caveat (2021)

05 Saturday Jun 2021

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Damian Mc Carthy’s directorial debut that taps right into my heart with its psychological twists and turns that are so fractured that I can’t help but be lured in to its complexities. 

This style of narration can turn some people off and get frustrated by the director’s choice. Especially with the convoluted ending to the tale.

I just lap this stuff up as if addicted to the abstract approach to fear, guilt, and paranoia.

Clearly, its tight budget constraints are on show, but Mc Carthy manages to utilse the deficits to his advantage, and wrangles everything that his actors can muster to the fore, particularly through our lead protagonist, Isaac (Jonathon French), who struggles to piece things together because he is suffering amnesia. Also, placing the setting on an desolate house on a remote island fuels the anxiety and isolation, amping up emotions of both characters and his audience. 

The film is quite hard to unpack, but essentially we follow Isaac to this isolated island when hired to look after Olga (Leila Sykes), who also appears psychologically disturbed and constantly falls into catatonic states, hence the need for someone to supervise her. Our first introduction to Olga is deeply scarring as she wields a curiously freakish wind up toy, a symbol of the unhinged minds of all that enter the house.

We have to allow our minds to stretch into the realms of the unimaginable to a degree, when Issac agrees to the caveat in question, being chained into a harness that restricts him from accessing certain parts of the house; another metaphor for the ties that bind us to our past regrets. The wielder of the caveat is Olga’s uncle Barret (Ben Caplan), who comes and goes throughout the piece but his presence is always felt.
As Isaac fumbles around the crevices of the ramshackled abode, more truths are uncovered but still steers us further away from transparency. The deeper he delves, the more unhinged and dangerous the characters become.

The Diagnosis:

It’s a bold and momentous achievement for a directorial debut, and while it doesn’t necessarily tick all the boxes, the performances are faultless, and the fragmented narrative are compelling enough to keep you chained to the storytelling. 

It will either grip you, or grind you up.

For me, it was a well-constructed tale, that is just the right side of deranged.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: The Reckoning (2021)

05 Saturday Jun 2021

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When Director, Neil Marshall hit the horror scene with his debut feature, Dog Soldiers, he hit hard with a werewolf film that not only had its own identity but packed with a little humour.
He then went on to prove that he wasn’t just a one-hit wonder with his sophomore outing The Descent, strengthened his position as a genre film director and won some dedicated supporters of his craft.

It would appear though, that Marshall’s magic was waning as he struggled with his third attempt to appeal to his audience with Doomsday, despite high hopes abound. And even his follow up feature, Centurion, starring Michael Fassbender stuck to average mediocrity.

By the mid 2010’s though, he managed to strike gold twice for popular tv series Game of Thrones with two of its best episodes, Blackwater and The Watchers On The Wall, which led some to believe that he still could captivate and entertain on a large scale. Those walls of expectations fell down however with the re-imagined Hellboy missing the beats once again.

Despite all this, Marshall’s name still fills me with optimism and so when it came to light that his latest feature, The Reckoning was to stream on Shudder, I was front and centre for its debut.

Unfortunately, it falls short of my expectations and struggles with a saturated introduction to its central character, Grace (Charlotte Kirk, who also co writes the screenplay alongside Marshall and Edward Evers-Swindell) whose husband falls foul to the plague and rather than become a burden to his family and possibly infect them, takes his own life. This leaves Grace to try and make her own way and find the means to support her baby. Easier said than done with a horrible landlord Pendleton (Steven Waddington) abusing his power and corruption to force Grace to drastic means. 

But such is the way of the world, as soon as a woman should stand up for herself, she’s labelled a witch, taken away to be trialed for these convictions.

All this seems to take an age to get to this point and has a wishy-washy way of taking us there, coming across as made for a TV feature.

It’s such a shame as it feels so strained and without substance. In fact, it’s not until the ever-dependable Sean Pertwee makes his entrance as the witchfinder Moorcroft that the film starts to lift out of the quagmire of stales. He chomps and chews his way through each scene with glorious humour and glee, that it was a joy to watch him. By this stage I was only too relieved as I’m not so sure I could have endured anymore if his presence wasn’t made.

By the end of the movie though, it trudges to a conclusion with a thinly veiled attempt to tie this back to history, but by this point, I was beyond caring.

The Diagnosis:

I so wanted Marshall to come good with this film, as he definitely has the directing chops to pull it off.

The bang is quickly turned to a whimsical whimper though and fails to flicker on the pulsometer of fun.

It’s only appeal is Sean Pertwee, whose larger than life witchfinder is gloriously fun.

The rest of the movie however, just doesn’t resonate. 

Shame. 

  • Saul Muerte

Movie Review: Psycho Goreman

04 Friday Jun 2021

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Since Steven Kostanski and the Aston-6 collective first hit the scene back in 2011 with their feature, Manborg, the Canadian outfit have been producing low-budget creature features that hark back to the movies we grew to love in the 80s Home Entertainment scene.
In 2016, Astron-6 turned heads and a few tentacles with their Carpenter/Lovecraftian inspired gem The Void, but I would venture to say that their latest offering, Psycho Goreman is their most triumphant feature to date. 

Infused with a perfect blend of humour and stylistic visuals that project the look and feel of 90s hit series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Psycho Goreman comes across as a dark and twisted take on a kids adventure flick.

The premise follows two siblings, bossy and overbearing Mimi (Nita-Josee Hanna) and an overtly agreeable Luke (Owen Myre) stumble across a hidden gem buried in their backyard.
Unbeknownst to them, this gem also yields absolute power over an evil monster, hellbent on bringing about the destruction of the universe.
Unfortunately for this overlord, he didn’t anticipate the ignorant and cruel youth that would hold him in their grip to play stupid pranks and games, the usual silly stuff that kids get up to.

Along the way, the kids and their puppet monster that they have dubbed Psycho Goreman or PG for short, encounter The Paladins of Obsidian, PG’s former army that overthrew the Templars before he was incarcerated, the Planetary Alliance, and their two quarrelling parents, all in search for their own means of power and or corruption.
This leads to an ultimate battle where they compete in a diabolical game of Crazy Ball with its confusing rules.
Who will claim victory?

The Diagnosis:

Kostanski manages to direct a beautiful love song to the 90s period of home entertainment with a warped and visually appealing feature. 

Psycho Goreman is peppered with humour and is the dark candy of kids sci-fi adventures of yester-year.
It rekindles the energy of the visual treats we hold dear to our hearts in our childhood and garnishes it with gore-tastic moments that Kostanski and the team have made their signature style.

PG should firmly be on your genre-film pulse. Tap into this baby and enjoy its insanity.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: A Quiet Place Part II

03 Thursday Jun 2021

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Here’s the thing about 4DX.  

It’s a great cinema going experience if the film in question is a sick ‘em-sock ‘em rollercoaster bash of a ride.  And by that I mean, it has to be filled with peaks and valleys on a fairly regular basis.

Ie: The James Wan philosophy of “fill your boots with less scares and more tension” doesn’t really translate into 4DX currency for a movie where the tension is LITERALLY being quiet…

I mean, you’d think being in a seat that moves, blows air near your ears, thumps you in the back and wees water on you only every now and then would make each 4DX moment that much more effective – “use your bouncer sparingly” as they say in cricket. But no.  All you do is stew and count the money you’ve paid to sit in a chair that – for the most part – behaves like a chair.

So there’s that piece of worldly advice we have to impart on you – don’t see it in 4DX.  But should you see it at all?

Well fans of this website may recall the evening Saul Muerte and I first saw A Quiet Place back during a time before The Great Pandemic – where people could and would freely mingle about in public spaces with no face masks and no pants (I know, it sounds like science fiction…) – and we both instantly jumped online afterwards and pronounced AQP The Greatest Horror film of 2018.  And we were right.

So that means/meant writer/director John Krasinski had big shoes to fill 2nd time round, made more and less difficult by the fact they were his shoes.

But what kind of elephants are we talking here?  The biggest one – immediately – is that as a film, AQP is quite self contained and not really all that franchisable.  

A fact supported by Krasinski who stated, when approached by The Powers That Be, that neither he, nor the other 2 co-creators of the film (Bryan Woods and Scott Beck) were really interested in continuing with another installment.

Yet (obviously) this stance soon flexed and now we have a sequel where it must be said, one didn’t naturally sit before.

Why? You may ask?  Well for the simple reason there were no real dangling threads or cliffhanger moments at the end of the first film.  The monsters did this.  The family did that. Problems were put forth and tension and scares were aplenty as said problems were solved. There was even a noble self-sacrifice thrown into the mixl.  Cue end credits.

So if we have to enter sequel territory, we must unearth (yet again) our Surgeons of Horror list of what-a-good-sequel-needs-to-be-called-a-good-sequel folder.  They are…

  1. Identify the ideas, themes & executional elements that make the first film great.  Or at least good.  Or at least worthy of being sequelised.
  1. Pay homage and do not violate/ignore said ideas and themes and elements.
  1. Introduce new/expanded themes, ideas and elements that will NATURALLY ALIGN to your first ideas, themes & elements.  (Ie: Don’t use your second movie to discredit & contradict your first).
  1. To underline point 3 – DO NOT rehash the first film and just give people “more of the same”.
  1. DO NOT-NOT rehash the first film by giving more of the same…. BUT “BIGGER”.
  1. Be a good enough stand-alone film by itself.

There.  Six simple rules, set in cinematic stone.  Follow them and you’ll have a sure fire critical and commercial hit on your hands that will age well over the decades.

So much easier said than done.  Balance – as with everything in life – is key and oh-so hard to achieve.

So – where does AQP2 sit with the above 6?

Well in short it nails a lot of the above.  But falls short on one.  But which one?  

Well – you’re gonna have to see that for yourself.  But don’t splurge on 4DX.

In terms of meat and potatoes – what you see in the trailer is essentially an accurate structural portrayal of the movie (which might give a hint as to which point it failed on).

It starts with a prequel opening set up (a “Day 1” for fans paying attention during the first film) where we find the Abbott family (their surname is Abbott!  Who knew!? Again… problems that crop up when your cast has to be quiet…) enjoying everyday life in everyday country town America before the killer aliens arrive.

Then we flash forward to exactly where the last film left off and Emily Blunt’s character of Evelyn (again – who knew!?  Probably super fans of the first movie.  You know the drill, comments below etc.) takes her 2 children (Regan and Marcus) and newly formed bubba Abbott to look for other survivors because they have a weapon to fight the aliens now (a homemade Cochlear Implant on steroids) and staying at their flooded/burnt down farm is not an option any more.

There they meet up with Cillian Murphy’s character (Emmett) as seen from the trailer and from there – well – it becomes a story of survival, scares, triumph, man’s inhumanity to man (standard for all post apocalyptic films, which is a cliche to be sure, but seeing as we are all currently living through a global horror movie – and will be for some time yet – sadly, not that unbelievable) and personal growth.

The Diagnosis:

Krasinski himself has gone on record and has (more or less) stated he wanted to focus on the heart of the film, and not so much the head.  So for those of you who were invested in the character of Regan from the first movie will be glad to hear her avatar Millicent Simmonds gets to stretch her acting chops nicely this time round.

But as for the aforementioned head stuff – yes there are still hold-your-breath moments, special FX’s and peril.  If there is one thing the first film did exceptionally well and does well here (with multiple characters simultaneously no less) is place people in tension filled situations where cold calculating calm is required to survive.  But are they in the same league as the first film?

Well. 5 out of 6 ain’t bad.  In fact it’s good.  It’s very very good.  Such a shame the first film was so great.  What a fantastic curse, as they say.

– Antony Yee

PS: Be sure to check out our future article where we elaborate on the Six Points to make a great sequel.